Happy Birthday
by BrightStar
Summary: Chloe reflects on her life and what brought her to where she is now. Slight AU. Chlex. *Finished*
1. Chloe

Summary: Chloe reflects on her life and what brought her to where she is now. Slight AU. Chlex.  
  
A/N: okay, this is just something that came to me one day and after tweaking it a little, I came up with something I really liked. I hope you guys like it. And I'm sorry if Chloe comes across a little OOC. I couldn't help it. Enjoy.  
  
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Every time I build myself up to do what needs to be done, something happens and I lose my nerve. Something happens to totally deflate my hard built confidence. I think I'm finally ready to tell him how I feel. At the very least admit it to my best friends, but then he would know. Sometimes it's something stupid, like a song I heard on the radio, other times it's one of those sappy romantic movies that I secretly love to watch and can't get enough of. But then I have one of those off the wall daydreams.  
  
I'll be sitting in the middle of class, completely ignoring my professor off in my own little world. We're playing on the beach, playfully chasing each other around and into the water. Things are perfect, and then I wake up to my journalism class getting up from their seats and leaving. These little vacations from reality make me think that maybe, just maybe there's a good man out there waiting for me. That out of all the meteor mutants I've been dating, somewhere there's a relatively normal guy who doesn't have super powers.  
  
Someone who doesn't treat me like a glorified search engine at his beck and call to find what ever he needs so that he can go hang out with Lana just a little sooner. Someone who can share their secrets with me and not pretend that I'm too stupid to figure it out on my own. Clark really needs to get a grip on reality if he thinks those stupid glasses are going to keep his identity a secret from those who have known him all his life. Maybe he didn't think he could trust me since I'm the biggest snoop this side of the Mississippi, or maybe he thought I'd put him on my wall of weird. Either way, it was no excuse for him not to tell his best friend. I mean, really, he even told Pete.  
  
When I found out, I confronted Pete; he fessed up and wanted to tell Clark that I knew. I convinced him not to say anything to Clark, if Clark wanted me to know, he could damn well tell me himself. Instead he chose to keep it from me and that hurt a whole hell of a lot more than leaving me at the Spring Formal.  
  
I understood that he feels the need to save everybody, I've been on the receiving ends of one of those 'miraculous' rescues, but the boy really needs to get a life and find someone or something to make him happy, or he's going to spontaneously combust all over the place.  
  
Damn, I can't even manage to stay mad at Clark, because if it weren't for him, I would have never fallen in love with the most wonderful man in the world. Sure, Clark's handsome and all, but he's never really challenged my intellect the way that Lex does. Okay, there, I said his name. It just sounds so good rolling off my tongue. I miss our verbal sparring matches almost as much as I miss him. He made my days more interesting with our conversations filled with politics, literature, entertainment and sports. I never would have figured him for a Star Wars fan, but boy is he ever.  
  
I never would have thought that I would miss Smallville, but leaving him and our daily conversations at the Talon behind was probably the smartest thing I could have ever done. I left Kansas for Stanford and the School of Journalism. I figured a change of environment was in order and since I got a full ride, I'd make the most of it, and try to get over what I thought was just a silly teenage crush. How wrong I was.  
  
California's beautiful, but it reminds me too much of Lex. I know it shouldn't, but basically everything reminds me of him. God, how pathetic is that? I move cross-country to a state that doesn't resemble Kansas in any way and I still find similarities with this place and Lex. Everybody here has an agenda. And it makes me love him even more.  
  
I finally decide it's time to stop moping around my apartment and take a walk. I place isn't too far from the main campus, so I decide to walk through to one of my favorite secluded courtyards. I take my notebook with me so that I can write yet another letter to Lex that I will never send. Telling him how I really feel and how I wish he'd come to visit me.  
  
We kept in touch over the years by e-mail, Lex and I. Him telling me of his latest business conquest and me telling him about my professors and my theory on how they're really meteor freaks because nobody who is supposed to be that smart is that dense about real life. He's the one that told me about Lana and Pete, because Clark was too caught up in his recently acquired position as editor of the Metropolis University paper. Even I saw the irony in that. I finish up with my never to be sent letter and head home.  
  
I should go out tonight, after all, it is my birthday, but I don't really feel like going out. Which after I say it too myself sounds completely insane. Who doesn't want to go out on their birthdays? Even if it is only my twentieth. Maybe I'll just treat myself to my favorite takeout and watch my 'Dude, Where's my Car?' for the millionth time. I know, it sounds like an incredibly stupid movie, but sometimes all you need is a good laugh, and it's one of the best laughs I've ever had.  
  
I stop by the video store on my way home from campus and enter my building. I decide to hike up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. My belt test is in a couple of days and I'd like to be in better shape before I take on that task. That's right, I've started studying the martial arts. I figured since I'd no longer have Clark around to save me from whatever trouble I got myself into as the clichéd intrepid investigative reporter, I'd need to be able to take care of myself. I'm doing really well too. No more helpless little Chloe. Now it's 'Kick ass Chloe' to the rescue.  
  
I enter my apartment and dump my things on the kitchen table, and decide that I better order my food so that it'll be here soon. My friends won't bother calling to convince me to go out tonight, they spent most of yesterday trying to do that and I finally convinced them that they could take me out tomorrow instead and let me have tonight for myself.  
  
I order my favorites from Mr. Wong's Wicked Wok and settle into the couch with the remote to wait for my food. I'm engrossed in the latest rerun of 'Friends' when my doorbell rings. I mutter to myself that this has to be the only apartment building in the world with the most obnoxious doorbell. I grab my purse off the table and head for the door.  
  
As soon as I open the door, I'm shell-shocked. What is he doing here? Lex Luthor is on my doorstep holding a bouquet flowers and small wrapped box. Wildflowers. My favorite wildflowers mixed with pale yellow, almost white roses. I drop my purse to my feet and look into his eyes. I never thought I would look at them again. I had resigned myself to seeing them in the paper clippings that Clark sent me from the Planet. My eyes start to well up with long unshed tears and I only realize that my mouth is hanging open when he reaches out and closes it for me. I start to stutter something along the lines of 'what are you doing here? How did you find me? And I missed you so much' when he holds his arms open and says to me, "Happy Birthday Chloe."  
  
~End~  
  
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Let me know if you'd like to read Lex's side of this. Thanks for reading. ^.^ 


	2. Lex

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I had to work and by the time I got home, I was wiped out. So I'll try to make up for that with this little bit of Chlexyness. ^.~  
  
Since I forgot to mention this earlier, I don't own Smallville or anything associated with it. Although I wouldn't mind owning a piece or Michael Rosenbaum.hmmmm.  
  
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God I miss her. I can't believe it's been over 2 years since I've seen her in person. Every once in a while Clark would decide to share her letters home and the snapshots of herself that she sent with each letter. Her at the beach, her in her cubicle at the school paper, her in front of her new VW convertible bug that I had begged her not to buy before she left for California. She just laughed at me with a look that was all Chloe and told me to get a grip.  
  
We've kept in touch over the years by e-mail. They never had to be long, just a quick note from her before her first class, or a small novel on how incompetent some of her professors are. Those always made me laugh. Yes, me laughing, I know it's hard to picture, but she was one of the only people to ever have that affect on me besides my mother.  
  
I told her about my takeover of LuthorCorp after some 'mysterious' evidence surfaced about my father's insidious business practices. I now spent the majority of my time in Metropolis running my companies and trying to find someone competent enough to help me do that should I ever decide to take a 'vacation'.  
  
While Chloe is more than willing to share with me about school and her new found friends, she was a bit more tight-lipped about her personal life which left me pumping Gabe and Clark for information as nonchalantly as possible. She wouldn't even tell me her address, instead forced me to keep up with her life by e-mail. I found out from Clark that she had dated a few guys from her journalism classes, but things never quite worked out. Something I was secretly thrilled about.  
  
Clark always came to see me when he was visiting his parents and I half expected to see Chloe with him, but she never came home to visit. Instead Gabe was using up all his vacation time flying out to California to visit his only daughter at school. I was a bit surprised that she never came back to Smallville. It was like she didn't want to run the risk of running into someone. But I brushed it aside as unfounded paranoia.  
  
Besides, it wasn't as if she might not run into me in California, especially since LexCorp had recently, and 'oh-so-conveniently', as she put it, donated a new wing on to the school library. I was there for the dedication, but Chloe managed to make herself incredibly busy with her column at the paper and studying for exams. I was, to say the least, disappointed in not seeing her after so long. She always seemed to be one step ahead of me. And the fact that she refused to give me her home address annoyed me to no end. I suppose I could have just searched her out, but for some reason, I felt the need to respect her privacy. Oh well. It's already been decided that I'm an incredible schmuck for letting her get a way in the first place.  
  
While she was still in high school her relationship with Clark forced us to get to know one another. Clark was my best friend and Chloe was one of Clark's. Clark would occasionally bring Chloe with him when he came to see me, I think it might have been because he wanted me and Chloe to get along. I have a feeling that Clark did it on purpose to get me and Chloe to get along. Clark Kent, the peacekeeper. Chloe and I used to be famous around town for our public outbursts at the Talon. Clark locked us in my study one day and left us there until the shouting had stopped and found us quietly playing chess.  
  
Chloe and I had finally decided that we should put aside our differences and at least try to get along, at least for the sanity of our friends. And during the aforementioned chess game we found we had quite a bit in common. Including a mean practical joke streak that came to head in the form of revenge on Clark for locking us in the library all afternoon. Needless to say it involved Clark, very little clothes, a vat of creamed corn and a cherry cream pie, in the middle of the Talon no less. Chloe and I laughed about that one for days. Clark still holds a slight grudge and blushes anytime anybody mentions cherries.  
  
After 'the pie' incident Chloe and I became close, since Clark was always following Lana like a lost puppy and Pete was involved with sports that left Chloe with pretty much no one to talk to so naturally after the library affair, she turned to me. She confided in me her desire to leave Kansas and go somewhere else, to get out of the shadow of the Chloe everybody thought they knew. I was the one to suggest Stanford, my to my chagrin, she applied and received the full scholarship she was hoping for. Have I mentioned how much I miss her?  
  
I absentmindedly look at the clock. It's already after 5 o'clock. Damn, I've been mooning over the missing Ms. Sullivan for almost 4 hours; I really need to get a life. I look at my calendar to see if there's anything pressing that needs to be done to day. I'm pleasantly surprised by the appointment in bright red pen staring back at me. I grin to myself and ask my secretary to bring the car around and inform the airport to ready my jet, I'm going to California tonight, but first I need to pick up something from the manor. Something I've been meaning to give Chloe since she graduated from Smallville High. Something very important.  
  
As my plane touches down the runway, I start to feel those all to familiar butterflies in my stomach. Who would have thought? Lex Luthor, getting butterflies over a girl, no a woman, it was unheard of. Regardless of all this, I stopped in to the flower shop that I had called ahead to. I needed to pick up a very specific, very special bouquet of flowers. I already had the small box in my hands, wrapped in shiny gold paper with suns and stars all over it.  
  
I now stood at the entrance of her apartment building feeling ridiculously nervous. I mean, really, this was just Chloe. One of your best friends, you're just here to wish her Happy Birthday, I think to myself, and to tell her you love her. I abruptly look at the box I'm holding in my hands, I have this irrationally feeling that it's not good enough, but then again, nothing is for the woman I love. There, I said it to myself. Now all I have to do is say it to her.  
  
I find myself standing outside her door, just standing there. I swear I've been standing here forever. I'm about to push the bell when fear takes over, what if she doesn't feel the same? Then what? Pull yourself together Lex! You're a Luthor for Christ's sake! You have the balls to tell the woman you love how you feel! Just do it! I ring the doorbell, and my beautiful Chloe opens the door.  
  
She stands there staring at me, dumbfounded. She looks at the gifts in my hands and starts stuttering something about 'what are you doing here? How did you find me? And I missed you so much' before I silence her by opening my arms up for the hug I knew was coming and a simple, "Happy Birthday Chloe."  
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Well? What did you think? Was it bad, good, mediocre? Tell me so I can fix it! :D (Thanks to Gnome for catching a discrepancy in the earlier version. :D) 


	3. Gifts

Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville, or anything associated with it no matter how much I love the show.  
  
A/N: This is the last part. Sorry it took so long. Thanks to everybody who gave great reviews on the previous chapters. Thanks also to scifichick774 for encouraging me to get off my but and finish this. Thanks chica. Also to everybody at TBT. You guys are a real inspiration. :D  
  
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Chloe's POV  
  
I stood there for a second and took in his presence, standing there arms open, bearing gifts, wearing a well-tailored black Armani suit with his signature deep purple dress shirt with the top two buttons undone. For a whole two seconds I tried convincing myself that I was daydreaming before I mentally smacked myself and all but fell into his waiting embrace, soaking in the essence that was completely and uniquely Lex.  
  
I stood there with him in my hallway for a good 5 minutes before I was even willing to leave his warm embrace, relishing in the fact that I needed to make the most of it since it was not likely to ever happen again. I knew that eventually Lex would have to leave and return to Metropolis and LexCorp, to his skyscrapers and business bimbos. I held on for dear life, never wanting to let him go.  
  
I let out an almost inaudible sigh of contentment and happiness, before I could catch it, I swear I could spend the rest of my life in his arms, wow, that thought came out of nowhere. Kinda scary, but I don't want to think about that, I want to think about the man holding me in his Armani clad arms. Oh well, it would take an act of God to get me to admit my feelings for him to him.  
  
When I finally release him from what I'm sure is a suffocating and smothering hold, I am once again able to form coherent and complete sentences. I start to wonder how he got here, to a place he wasn't supposed to know where it was, so I asked him as much, "Not that I'm not thrilled beyond belief to see you Lex, what are you doing here? I never gave you my address; I didn't think you knew what it was. The only people who have it are my dad, and.Clark. That dumbass gave it to you didn't he? He and I will be having another long talk about boundaries." I continue to rant for another minute before I realize that he's still out in the hallway and smirking that incredibly sexy smirk of his at me. I stop short of verbally castrating Clark to sheepishly allow the man I secretly love into my home.  
  
My apartment's not all that much, but I love it. It's a 2 bedroom that I have all to myself thanks to my scholarship and my dad. He wanted to have somewhere to stay when he was in town, and didn't want to rent a hotel room. He also wanted me to have the option of finding a roommate should I want to. He secretly didn't like the idea of his "baby girl" living all by herself in the big city. Not that it's all that big compared to growing up in Metropolis. You'd think he forgot that we used to live there or something.  
  
I led Lex into my modest living room, and turned off my episode of 'Friends,' I didn't think I needed to subject him to Ross' and Rachael's antics when I wanted to pump him for information. I took the flowers from him and went into the kitchen to find a vase for the flowers, "Thank you for the flowers Lex, they're beautiful, I can't believe you remembered what my favorites were." I say from the kitchen, only to turn around and realize he followed me in here. "How could I forget? It was such a memorable instance when you told me. Clark had just finished pumping you for what kind of flowers he should get Lana and you had verbally berated him for not knowing what her favorite was. You told him, and I quote, 'What kind of idiot are you Clark? You don't even know what kind of flowers your girlfriend likes? Quit being stupid and just ask her!' I couldn't stop laughing. Until you turned on me. I managed to come away from a Chloe verbal battle by simply asking you what your favorite was, you were so shocked, you forgot to yell at me later." He finished the last statement with a wide grin that he only rarely showed to people. I looked down at my feet and tried to push the blush down, slightly embarrassed I changed the topic and I repeated my earlier question, "So, what are you doing here Lex?" He just smirked at me for a second before replying, "You didn't honestly think I'd miss such a wonderful opportunity like your birthday to come visit you, did you?"  
  
I stared at him once again with my mouth hanging open. He walked over to me at the sink and closed it for me once more. "You know," he starts, "you should really keep that closed when you're not talking, you might catch some flies." I look at him with an only slightly scathing look at he starts laughing at me. I decide against a verbal war for the moment, I suddenly realize that he's still holding a shiny gold box with suns and stars on it with matching ribbon. To avoid further verbal sparring, I look at the box pointedly and ask, "So, is that for me, were you just teasing me with it?"  
  
I watch as he self-consciously looks down at his hand and realizes that the box is still there. "Actually, it's for my other intrepid reporter friend, do you mind if I go find her and give it to her?" He asks with mirth sparkling in his deep blue eyes. I give him a slight glare then smile brilliantly at him; it's always been my secret weapon. "Please Lex?" I say in a pouty little voice. He smirks at me, looks at the box again and sighs before handing the small box over to me.  
  
I head into the living room to unwrap my present, if only to get out of the kitchen. But before I can open it, my doorbell rings again and I remember my takeout. I leave Lex sitting on my couch with the present in front of him to get the food. When I reach the door, I scoop up my purse from the floor where I had dropped it earlier. I open the door to see the regular delivery guy from Mr. Wong's Wicked Wok. He smiles and I hand him the money. I take the food into the kitchen again before calling out to Lex, "You want to join me for dinner? I have takeout." I walk back into the living room. He looks at me smiling, "I'd love to, but don't you want to know what's in the box first?" He asks. I grin at him evilly, " No, not really." He frowns at me before realizing that I'm kidding. He smirks at me and sweeps up the gift and says, "Well if you really don't want it, then I'll just take it back." "No!" I yelp, " You can' t have it back, it's mine now." I reply grinning like the Cheshire cat.  
  
I start to carefully unwrap the box, not wanting to rip the beautiful paper. I lift the top off of the box and look down on to tickets. Hmmm, he got me tickets..to the 'Star Wars: Episode III' premiere. I am again reduced to looking like a blond blowfish with my mouth opening and closing. I'm sure I look like a moron. " You got me tickets to the premiere?!?!?! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" And with that I launched myself at him across the couch.  
  
We landed sprawled on the couch, and I realize that I'm probably simultaneously squeezing the life out of him while crushing him beneath me. I look up from the crook of his neck where I've buried my neck. He's looking up at me with an astonished look. "Well, if I'd have know that was the reaction I'd get from simply inviting you to the movies, I would have done it a lot sooner," he says impishly. I smile back at him and realize that I'm still on top of him, I know I should move, but this position just feels so right.  
  
I look at the tickets, then back to him and realize his expression has turned serious. "What?" I ask. "Well, aren't you going to look at what else is in the box?" He says expectantly. Now I'm curious, and as much as I don't want to, I disentangle myself from him and sit up. I pick up the box from the coffee table where I set it before launching myself at him. I look at the box again and see what the tickets were hiding.  
  
I pick up the chain, it looks like platinum, as I pick it up from the box, I realize that there's something attached to it. It's a ring. A simple platinum band. I look at Lex bewildered. He simply smirks at me and says, " Read the inscription." Me being the curious being that I am complied, "Semper amor equidem. What does it mean Lex?"  
  
I'm confused, but hopeful, if this is what I think it might be, somebody is finally granting my birthday wish. I watch as he moves across the couch towards me and takes the chain and ring from me. He slips the ring off of the chain and hands it to me. "I don't expect you reciprocate my feelings, but being the selfish person that I am I had to tell you the truth. Even if it is a few years late. Chloe, god, this is hard, I love you. This ring is supposed to be a promise of my love for you even if you don't love me back." As he finishes speaking he looks down at his hands and I realize he's scared of my answer.  
  
With tears shining in my eyes, "Oh, Lex, how can you be the most brilliant man I know and still be a dumb as a log?!? Of course I love you!" And with that I through myself at him with a kiss full of the passion that I've been keeping bottled inside of my heart. He returns the kiss with as much fervor as I had and when we finally can tear ourselves apart, I'm grinning like a mad woman. " Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" I ask. I can't believe it. He loves me. Would've believed we'd end up with each other. I let him slip the ring onto my ring finger only to find that it's a perfect fit. I look into his eyes with all the love I hold in my heart and pull his head close to mine so that I can whisper to him, "I love you Alexander." And pull him into another kiss to prove it.  
  
*************** ~Later that night after dinner~  
  
"So Lex what does the inscription mean?" I ask while staring at my hand that now holds my second most prized possession, the first now being Lex, of course. He looks over at me, pulls me close and smiles before whispering, "Always love on my part."  
  
~End~  
  
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A/N: There, I finished, aren't you all proud? Well, I hope you enjoyed it. The inscription on the ring is Latin, I don't know if I got the grammar right, but the words are right, so sorry if somebody speaks Latin and I got it wrong. :D 


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